Six men posed as workmen to drill into petrol station cash machine The operation took four hours to prepare under the noses of customers But police arrived when they started drilling and they tried to escape Four of the gang were caught and sentenced but one is on the run

Scroll down for photos and story ...A
gang of bungling robbers posed as workmen and tried to drill their way
into a petrol station cash machine as customers walked by.

Undercover
police watched in amazement as the gang, dressed in hard hats and
hi-vis jackets, mounted an audacious bid to drill through the floor of
the petrol station shop and into a cash machine even though customers
were still coming and going on a busy Saturday afternoon.

Acting
on a tip-off, officers mounted a surveillance operation and saw members
of the gang pretend to be measuring out the plot of land at the rear of
the Harvest Energy petrol station on Cheetham Hill Road in Manchester
on September 15.

Photo: Manchester Evening News

Fancy dress: Acting on a tip-off,
officers mounted a surveillance operation and saw members of the gang
pretend to be measuring out the plot of land at the rear of the Harvest
Energy petrol station d in Manchester

Photo: Manchester Evening News

Carefully thought through: Police
footage shows gang members arrive in a van and heave a huge generator
underneath the rear of the shop, which was mounted on concrete columns
on a grassy embankment

In fact, the gang was after the £45,000 in the cash machine.

Police
footage shows gang members - who referred to the raid as 'The Italian
Job' in text messages - arrive in a van and heave a huge generator
underneath the rear of the shop, which was mounted on concrete columns
on a grassy embankment.

They also brought an industrial drill and huge bottles of water to cool it.

After nearly four hours of preparation, the gang started drilling - only for police to immediately move in.

The
hilarious sped-up footage filmed by the police shows one of the gang pop
his head over a fence only to spot officers and flee.

The gang had started their operation at around 4pm and the police eventually moved in at 7.48pm.

The six gang members scattered but officers managed to catch all but one.

Four
of the captured gang members were finally brought to justice after they
pleaded guilty to their part in the crime. The fifth failed to show up
and is on the run.

Father-of-two
Osman Yirticisahin, 33, from Manchester, a man of Turkish heritage who
served in the British Army in Afghanistan and Iraq and who worked as a
translator for the UN, was jailed for three years.

Damien Green, 35, also from Manchester, a father who claimed got involved to repay a debt, was also imprisoned for three years.

Photo: Manchester Evening News

No easy feat: After nearly four hours of preparation, the gang started drilling - only for police to immediately move in

Omar
Syed Iqbal, 33, from Rochdale, was caged for three years and nine
months. He was on license at the time of the raid for long jail
sentences for wounding with intent and conspiracy to supply drugs.

The three had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle.

Asghar
Ahmed, 22, from Rochdale, who had no previous convictions, admitted
assisting an offender. He has resigned from his job a Manchester Airport
ground handling agent Swissport. He was jailed for one year and eight
months.

The
judge issued a warrant for the arrest of the mastermind Simon McDonagh,
30, of Victoria Street, Manchester, after he failed to show up for the
sentencing hearing. He had also admitted conspiracy to burgle at a
previous hearing

Police are still looking for the sixth member of the gang.

Yirticisahin
drove the van which ferried the equipment as well as Green, McDonagh
and an unidentified third man to the scene. McDonagh needed hospital
treatment after he was snared by a police dog.

Iqbal
was parked up on the petrol station forecourt in a VW Polo acting as
the gang's look-out with the youngest member of the gang Ahmed in the
passenger seat.

Photo: Manchester Evening News Almost farcical: The hilarious sped-up
footage filmed by the police shows one of the gang pop his head over a
fence only to spot officers and flee

The
gang had carried out a stake-out at the petrol station the day before
the strike and, in text messages which were found by police, had
referred to the raid as 'The Italian Job'.

Prosecutor
Michael Brady told Manchester Crown Court: 'They were hiding in plain
sight and there was somewhat of a charade as McDonagh had a tape measure
and was seen to be taping out the area.'

His Honour Judge David Hernandez described the crime as 'pretty audacious'.

He
said: 'It was an audacious plan to drill through the concrete floor to
steal the contents of the cash machine inside. The intention was to gain
access to the building. It was a well planned operation. The crime was
intercepted before it was completed by the police. But the drilling had
started although there was no significant damage.'

Photo: Manchester Evening News Guilty:
Asghar Ahmed, 22, (left) from Rochdalee was jailed for one year and
eight months. Damien Green, 35, also from Manchester was imprisoned for
three years

After
the hearing, Detective Constable Nicholas Kershaw said: 'The successful
conviction of this gang is the result of a meticulous police
investigation into a carefully planned criminal enterprise.

'The evidence points towards the fact that these men had been planning this audacious raid for some time.

'There
is no doubt that these men were brazen in their attempt to steal the
tens of thousands of pounds contained within the cash machine, carrying
out their plan in broad daylight and in front of anyone who happened to
be walking past or living in the apartment buildings nearby.

'They
trusted in their disguises to hide their heist, what they did not count
on was the excellent policing operation that was out to foil their best
laid plans.

'The
surveillance operation was superbly carried out by our officers and
resulted in these men being given prison terms that reflect the severity
of their crimes.'

Photo: Manchester Evening News Gang
members: Simon McDonagh (left) failed to show up for the sentencing
hearing. Omar Syed Iqbal, 33, (centre) from Rochdale, was caged for
three years and nine months. Osman Yirticisahin, 33, (right) from
Manchester, was jailed for three years

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